 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Season of bounty
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
THE NILE has overflowed in unprecedented abundance. On Monday, the first day of the annual flood, the level of water rose to 178 metres. Accordingly, specialists expect the waters to enter the Toshka spillway today.Last year, the Toshka spillway was said to have saved Egypt 16 billion cubic metres of water, over and above the 120 billion cubic metres that were stored in Lake Nasser.
The human factor
EIGHTY-FIVE per cent of road accidents are a result of human error, five per cent are caused by deficient roads and 10 per cent are due to faulty vehicles, announced Maj. Gen. Mohamed El-Hussein, adviser to Suleiman Metwalli, minister of transport.The figures were released during a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for National Security and Defence, headed by Fathi Qezman, which was called to discuss the mushrooming phenomenon of fatal road accidents.
However, several members of the committee put most of the blame on the government. Mild penalties were singled out as a major factor behind the phenomenon. Furthermore, the Ministry of Transport was criticised for concentrating its efforts in building flyovers, the usefulness of which are debatable, while ignoring the condition of the roads.
The committee also considered a new draft traffic law prepared by the government, which will come up for debate during the next session of parliament.
Fatal crash
WHILE the buck is passed around and new legislation discussed, two fatal car crashes this week killed 19 people. The most horrific was the death of 11 and the injury of ten others in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya on Tuesday. A truck transporting 20 workers collided with another truck after the first driver lost control of the vehicle when he swerved into sand.Earlier on the same day eight people were killed and three others injured in a collision along the Zaqaziq highway near El-Tal El-Kabir which involved one car trying to bypass another vehicle ahead of it, but collided head on with a third car coming in the opposite direction.
Order on the streets
NEW SECURITY forces were scheduled to start patrolling the streets of Greater Cairo yesterday. Interior Minister Habib El-Adli announced that the new measure aimed at bringing under control all forms of criminal behaviour.The new forces were provided with advanced training to deal with traffic violations. They will be distinguishable from the average policeman not only by special uniforms but by their reportedly greater efficiency, too.
Summer politics
TWELVE Cairo University students have been arrested on suspicion of disseminating the ideology of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.According to the Higher State Security Prosecutor's office, which released seven of the students and ordered the other five be remanded in custody for 15 days, the students had set up a summer camp with the intention of preparing Brotherhood cadres for anti-government activities.
The students denied the charges.
Rapist gets death
A MINIBUS driver has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of raping a woman university professor.Mona Mustafa was on her way to visit an uncle when she hailed Sayed Shehata's minibus along the Pyramids Road on 10 March. Under the pretext of evading traffic jams, Shehata and two accomplices, Hamad Ali and Ahmed Hussein, drove into a farm road where they raped Mona and stole her jewelry.
The three men, one of whom is a minor of 15, later left their victim near Cairo University.
The two accomplices have received prison terms with hard labour.
Round the clock dialysis
KIDNEY failure seems to plague many Egyptians and keeping up with the number of patients in need of dialysis is proving to be quite a challenge. In response, Minister of Health Ismail Sallam has ordered all public hospital kidney facilities to work for three shifts a day.In addition, Sallam ordered that all dealings between his ministry and private clinics which overcharge for the service will be cut off until further notice.
